Eventually she excused herself and went into the bedroom she had been assigned. It was a good thing the brothers had had her whole wardrobe brought over because in there was the killer dress and shoes she had already bought for Maureen’s party.
She jumped into the shower, excitedly, took her time exfoliating and pampering her skin until it shone with radiance. She applied a full face of makeup and styled her hair in big waves down her back. She giggled when she stepped into her new pair of shoes, the diamond dust finish sparkling in the evening light, to complete her look. And the monitor on her ankle would be explained away as a fitness device.
Satisfied she stared at herself in the mirror and accepted that she looked hot enough to eat. The glittering fabric of the dress, fringed with two lines of diamantes in a swirl around her hips, waist, and left breast, hugged every curve she was worth, was strapless, and reached mid-thigh. She turned and analyzed her backside and was happy with what she saw. She was pretty amazing on the outside even if she had to say so herself.
She was good at avoiding things that made her feel sad, which was why she was basically happy all the time.
But that moment when Damien came so close to touching her then changed his mind had played on her emotions every other moment since it happened. It dragged her down and made her feel horrible and she couldn’t handle those feelings. Damien didn’t want to touch her. Even though she begged him to. Leonid and Roman didn’t want to touch her either, even though she had begged them the day they had spanked her. They had no such interest in her and if she allowed it, would destroy her for reasons she couldn’t understand.
Tears prickled in her eyes, and she quickly shook her head. She knew the reason, she understood it too.
She wanted them. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way they made her feel, chaos and calm at once. She had become addicted to their presence, and the yearning to see them again only so her gaze could lock on their faces. She had never felt like that for anyone before and now she was experiencing a triple effect of it.
But the harsh truth was they didn’t want her. They thought of her as a flimsy heiress with too much time on her hands. An airhead even. That she didn’t have any substance because she was a slave for fashion and luxury. When Damien looked at her, she felt him thinking those things.
She looked up at the ceiling and blinked. It was just as well she was acting within her character based on the opinions they had about her.
As an heiress, she was familiar with the paparazzi gate crashing on their parties and invading their privacy. Code zero eight was something that she came up with. It meant a change of venue, usually at the last minute to throw people off. Before she disconnected the call she had sent Paige the new location.
As for the caterers which she had reminded Paige about, that was the first part of Plan C in her campaign to take down the Shlykov brothers and their quest to claim Cupid’s Toys. Just another stunt courtesy of her to shame them. It was probably underway by now already. Which explained the butterflies in her tummy at the repercussions she would be facing once they got home.
For the rest, it was playtime.
Chapter Sixteen
Ansley had done her due diligence. She sent Yuric on a wild goose chase, at the other end of the house, while she let in Paige and the rest of the crew to set up.
Sahara said nothing. It wasn’t within her paygrade which was just as well. Soon the Shlykov brothers’ magnificent home was flooded with an array of people all quickly setting up a bachelorette party for her cousin, Maureen.
Ansley vowed she would have a wonderful time and not spare another moment thinking about the brothers. She planned to drink bottles of champagne and take full advantage of the strippers Maureen had insisted she had, no matter what other themes Ansley had set up.
It was a party and even Yuric had conceded.
“They’re going to kill me,” Yuric said sadly as he watched the house being filled with more and more people as their guests arrived. The music was already thumping and the atmosphere very lively.
“You and me both, Yuric.”
“Not you, Miss. They would kill any man who touches you, yes, but not you.”
Ansley swung her head in Yuric’s direction, her frown on her face. He couldn’t be more wrong. She often wondered what stopped them from actually just tossing her over a bridge. She came with too much baggage, and they didn’t want that. She grimaced at the idea that they thought she was even too much trouble to physically remove from the planet.
“I’m going to drink champagne and you—Oh, Kyra,” she grabbed a tall blonde beauty and pulled her toward them. “This is Yuric. Yuric this is Kyra, Date,” she said, waving her hands between them before she left them.
The party had been going on for at least two hours already and no sign of the brothers. Which was great. Maureen was having a blast. She shoved a glass of champagne into Ansley’s hand then pulled her in for a lap dance from a decidedly cute guy. And why the hell not. She was young and free and fuck her life. She was going to get a lap dance, her first-ever.
Ansley had barely taken a sip of her drink and her dancer was just about to shove his crotch at her when the poor man was pulled off her and flung to the other side of the room.
The three clouds of darkness had descended on her and it wasn’t long before Damien used his thundering voice and only that to throw them all out. The poor dancer had probably broken an arm. When she went to help him, she was yanked away by Roman, dragged upstairs, and tossed into her room without him saying a word to her.
Ansley stood in the middle of the room and breathed out her suspended breath. She didn’t know if that was a success or not. Maybe she had been selfish into turning Maureen’s bachelorette party into something for her own gain, but then Maureen had had a great time and was just about to leave anyway when she commandeered Ansley for a lap dance.
But she needed to make the brothers pay.
Pay? Hertruth voiceasked.
Because they didn’t want her.
***~~~***